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Ion cannon
The Ion Cannon is one of the more powerful weapons in the Homeworld universe. Through the use of an accelerated particle beam, the ion cannon is capable of penetrating even the toughest of capital ship armour. Its firepower is matched only by the heavy missile, an anti capital ship weapon developed by the Vaygr, and exceeded by the phased cannon array. The ion cannon itself is believed to have been first used by the Bentusi, and then traded to the Kushan people in the Great Wastelands. The Taiidan received no such Bentusi assistance and acquired the weapon through their own research. While the ion cannon does tremendous damage, it comes with the price of bulkiness and high energy consumption. in fact, the weapon is so big that only frigate class vessels may mount it, even then by wrapping the hull arond the length of the entire cannon. This is the case in Homeworld, where the Ion Cannon Frigates make use of this design philosophy. Because of these problems, the ion cannon is used primarily in the role of an anti capital ship weapon, though technological innovations during Homeworld: Cataclysm allowed an anti strike craft variant of the weapon. Ion cannons in Homeworld In the original game of Homeworld, ion cannons were used by the Kushan, the Taiidan, the Turanic Raiders, the Kadeshi, and the Bentusi. Both the Kushan and the Taiidan races applied ion cannon technology to their capital ships. Ion cannons were used on Kushan capital ships such as the Firelance-class Ion Cannon Frigate, the Revelation-class Destroyer, and the Avatar class Heavy Cruiser. As for the Taiidan, warships equipped with ion cannons include the Sajuuk Cor-class Ion Cannon Frigate, the Skaal Tel-class Destroyer, and the Qwaar-Jet-class Heavy Cruiser. While the Turanic Raiders relied heavily on the use of strike craft, they too had 2 types of capital ships using the ion cannon as the primary weapon. The Assassin-class Ion Array Frigate and the Lord-class Carrier both used ion cannons to deal damage to the enemy. The Kadeshi showed considerable mastery over their use of ion cannon technology and may be considered to be second only to the Bentusi. Kadeshi capital ships using the ion cannon include the Kadeshi Mothership and the Kadeshi Multibeam Frigate. The latter is one of the most dangerous ship designs in Homeworld, featuring 4 full power ion cannons fitted onto a compact frigate design. In effect, the Multibeam Frigate's firepower is roughly equivalent to that of 4 Firelances or Sajuuk Cors. In Homeworld, the Bentusi Tradeship is equipped with 3 rapid-fire ion cannons. These ion cannons differ from those used by the other races in that they can fire constantly without recharging, and are capable of tracking even fast-moving strike craft. Ion cannons in Homeworld: Cataclysm In the sequel Homeworld: Cataclysm, ion cannons were used by the Kushan, the Taiidan, the Turanic Raiders, the Somtaaw, and the Bentusi. In the era of Cataclysm, ion cannon technology had since gone through various improvements and advancements. The Somtaaw implemented ion cannon weaponry on three of their capital ships - the Dervish class Multibeam Frigate, the Deacon class Destroyer, and the Archangel class Dreadnought. Of the three vessels, the Dervish is probably the best example of innovation to an already awe-inspiring weapon. By accelerating the particles within a helix bundle in the ship, the Dervish is capable of firing an ion beam from each of its 5 turrets. While the ion beams fired in this manner are considerably weaker than a standard beam, they have fast-tracking capabilities and are used primarily to deal with strike craft. Cataclysm also revealed the ultimate Bentusi warship - the Super Acolyte. Through the applied use of crystalline conduits in strike craft, the Bentusi were able to design a fighter class vessel equipped with 2 high-powered ion cannons. These ion cannons had short firing and recharge times, allowing the fighter to rapidly retarget enemy vessels. Ion cannons in Homeworld 2 fires it's Heavy Ion Cannons]] In Homeworld 2, ion cannons are used exclusively by the Hiigaran race. For some reason, the advanced ion cannon technology developed in Cataclysm is absent in this era, in spite of the fact that Homeworld 2 takes place nearly a century after the Hiigaran Landfall. (The events of Cataclysm took place about 15 years after the Landfall.) The ion cannon is present in three of the Hiigaran fleet's units - the Hiigaran Ion Platform, the Hiigaran Ion Frigate, and the Hiigaran Battlecruiser. It is believed that ion cannons in Homeworld 2 are available in three classes - light, medium, and heavy. This hypothesis came about because those three units possessed differing firepower regardless of the number of ion cannons they were equipped with. The light ion cannon used in the Ion Platform deals so little damage that a platform must mount 4 of the cannons in order for it to be a viable anti frigate unit. The Ion Frigate probably uses the medium variant of the weapon as its one beam is capable of equalling and even exceeding the damage potential of the Ion Platform. On the top of the line is the heavy ion cannon which is mounted on the dual cannon turrets of the Battlecruiser. The heavy ion cannon is so powerful that a single salvo involving 4 beams can easily destroy an un-upgraded carrier. It is interesting to note that while the Hiigarans are able to squeeze 4 ion cannons onto a single Ion Platform in Homeworld 2, they can only mount a single cannon onto a frigate hull as seen from the Ion Frigate, successor to the original Firelance class. Of course, this can probably be attributed to the varying damage potentials allowed by each ion cannon variant. Category:Weapons